Extension thread 2022 part III.. celebrations, crises and will it be finished for Christmas?!

[NewHouseNewMe]

3rd thread of 2022 - can't believe I'm still here!

Every time I log in to online banking it shows me the massive loan I need to repay so I completely understand.

Hello all - I’m back! Couldn’t face talking about it for a bit.. I adore reading about all the progress and seeing the fab kitchen @GardensandGrandDesigns .

We now have a plumbed sink, hot tap and dishwasher but no suspense to anyone following our story of terrible plumbers, he put them in without the unit back so it looks shocking and the dishwasher doesn’t work. On top of that they did the plumbing under the utility wrong again delaying the screed. If anyone wants a plumbing company to avoid around these parts let me know..

Some progress but still trying to find people to internal internal fire resistant glass for an original glass wall feature and the original floor restoration is now costing more than Amtico! Plus the allusive electricians are MIA.

But progress is being made slowly..

Is anyone else finding that absolutely nothing goes smoothly? Electrician has had a scale drawing for lights, but has managed to get every single one off in the kitchen. Where there’s a choice to make rather than asking us (one of us is home all the time) they make it and it’s always the one that looks worse. Thank goodness it’s Friday, literally counting down until we have a gap for Christmas now. Happy weekend everyone.

If you are looking for F & B emulsion Homebase have an offer of 2x2.5litres for £88

Thank you but we ordered last night. A grand on paint but it's the entire house and we've decided to do it ourselves. Question is can we do it all before Xmas eve??

Carpenters and electrician turned up today, another shocker! We might be finished next week. I can't believe it.

Yep, me! Absolutely everything seems to be an uphill battle now. The builders, who to be fair are lovely, conscientious and hard working, have now dropped the bomb that they don’t want us to move back in until 19 December.

But that’s two weeks past the deadline they gave us two weeks ago, and in the meantime we’ve given notice to our landlady, notified all utilities and the council and insurers. So we face being homeless unless they speed up a bit and let us move back in. It’s totally touch and go right now.

Meanwhile:

• we found out that a wall was wonky (not at right angle) and needed to be built up by about 5cm at one end, otherwise it looks dreadful now that the tiles are in
• the builders forgot to build the skirting in the kitchen, and started tiling. So they have had to break down the tiles and re do them (at their cost)
• the tilers don’t like my choice of floor tiles in the en-suite (!). I told them to carry on, and that basically I’m not designing for their taste
• the Mandarin Stone tiles we had chosen for the kids’ bathroom, despite being two colours of the exact same tile brand and size, are 2mm shorter in one colour than the other. Which compromises the grout lines etc. Why - just why?
• the builders apparently did not look at the drawings, and timber floored the entrance that is meant to be tiled - even though the tiles have been on site since August
• builders also announced they can’t do the joinery that is included in the contract, so now we’re scurrying around trying to find joiners before Christmas <hollow laugh> while mdf prices have doubled this year
• we still have unresolved glazing issues
• it turns out the extension is about 40cm longer than in the drawings, so we don’t have enough tiles for the kitchen

I could go on for two dozen more bullet points. My PM looks about two decades older than when we started earlier this year. I am running around madly trying to sort out curtains, blinds, essential furniture, lighting, etc. We keep maxing up credit cards and having to top them up for yet more expenses.

What’s really hurting is that all the finishes are compromised now, as we’ve run out of time and money, so we just need to settle for cheap (and available) alternatives. I’m being philosophical about it, but it’s secretly annoying me.

I’ve been reduced to asking DH for an Karcher window cleaner for Christmas 😁. How standards have slipped…

@Yellownotblue big hugs. It sounds shit, I’m so sorry. Our tiler has done our herringbone in the shower not matching in the corner and I’ve just given up, I can’t afford to replace the tiles and I know if I ask him to he will just walk away and not do it so I’m living with it and hoping no one else notices. Thankfully they are white with white grout, so maybe no one else will see. Our incredibly expensive sound insulation on the walls has been put up incorrectly, and at this stage I’m thinking fuck it, just finish and get out so I can at least get one room back to normal and maybe get a makeshift kitchen in so we aren’t spending even more money eating out every night. Rant over 😁, let’s see what problems today brings!

Oh dear, yes, we've agreed not to give each other Christmas presents this year as so much is going on the house. So just getting stuff for DD - some of which will be things like a new duvet cover for her new room!

Our builder found a water ingress problem last week and further investigation has shown some absolutely saturated bricks in the wall (they've basically almost turned back into clay!), mould in the dry(!!) lining etc. He's come up with a solution and that's another £1.5k bit of course it all keeps adding up...

Sorry to hear of others woes, I’ve found the bad stuff always seems to come together and you really question why on earth you’re doing any of it, then gradually things calm down, problems get resolved and progress happens, and you think, yeah this is ok actually. Until the next wave of issues 🙄

the very slow but perfectionist painter was still here when DH came home and loudly said, ‘you’re right DW, that painter is good but very slow!’ The painter was right behind him…I just said nothing.
dh had to dig himself out of that one, blathering about how it all takes longer than you think, etc. etc. 😂
the painter returns next week to tackle doors, and any last coats, my understairs shelves are still unusable which is driving me crazy as they’ve been built for a while now. Soon….

the parts for my glass railings have arrived so hope the guys can fit them next week, 🤞 for no major issues. Then they can order the glass. I’m paying twice for delivery but it should avoid potential measuring errors.

That made me laugh about your hubby and the painter! One thing I will say is all my ufh and perimeter insulation woes are all forgotten now we're at the end and I can't believe how beautiful our house is. You will all be there soon x

@NewHouseNewMe welcome back…. sorry to hear the plumbing woes continue.

Went to the house today, a week after we moved to the rental, to collect mail, and the place is now well stripped out. Kitchen and bathrooms gone. Carpets gone, lots of skirtings, doors, fireplaces etc off and some walls back to brick. We’ve finally had a project plan which has a move back in date of early July - I knew it was a long project but that kind of hits home (was supposed to be 9 months from August but lots of slippage already and a misunderstanding over moving out timing etc). Wonder if I will be the last one standing of this current group!

My task for today is to pick radiators. Anyone put in traditional cast iron or the traditional looking column steel radiators and have any tips?

cast iron
www.warmrooms.co.uk/radiators/cast-iron-radiators/the-radiator-company/the-radiator-company-uxbridge-4-column-cast-iron-radiator---800mm-height---primer-finish.aspx

steel
www.bestheating.com/milano-windsor-white-traditional-horizontal-double-column-radiator-choice-of-size-and-feet-88662

I have the same Milano ones @Littlessweepy and They’re great, holding the heat for ages after the heating goes off. Not cheap though..

@Yellownotblue why do the tilers not like the tiles?!
There is loads of stuff our tradesmen didn’t like especially the kitchen (traditional painted wood kitchen) and lighting (they wanted LED strips). They weren’t too quiet about it either 🤪

hello all, so exciting that some of you are nearly in!

i've name changed a few times (think I must be on my 3rd building thread now!)

we are still v early on in our building project - so much has gone wrong I barely know where to start but finally we are nearing the end of the structural work in the house. We are 7 weeks delayed even though we are only 8 weeks into the build but to be fair to the builders, they had to completely redo the rafters in the roof and both dormers. Those have now been rebuilt and finally I feel we have the shell of a house!

back extension is not finished but the shell of it is also built - chimney flues are cleaned and relined

dare I have a tiny bit of hope that things might go ok from here onwards?

new end date is now April 2023

We got similar to that but from Screwfix. We have them throughout the house although the extension will have the vertical version. We've gone for the highest btu so have almost got too much. I'd rather the room is too hot !

Echoing what @Baxdream says we had a similar radiator from Screwfix as we under-ordered the Milano ones and it was really good value. I can’t honestly see much difference between them.

@NewHouseNewMe the tiles have a lot of variations between them, some have veining and some don’t. Apparently that’s not to the tiler’s taste 🤷🏼‍♀️. You can’t please everyone all of the time!

Thanks for the screwfix radiator tip!

Went to our house yesterday - one room is ready for plastering!

The rest aren't, there's a gaping hole in the banisters and no windows at the back of the house on the ground floor.

Bathroom sanitaryware has arrived and has all been stuffed in the shed until they're ready to fit it.

Please can I join? We are a week into a 7month project 😲! We are doing a small extension and a complete renovation of the house, very exciting and scary! Current situation, the garden is a mud pit , hopefully the builders will start building the extension soon! I'm looking for recommendations for kitchen companies please. I've tried HMKOC, but the lead time is too long 😫, any other suggestions?

We used DIY kitchens. Only negatives, the soft closes don't seem as good as the higher brand kitchens but overall extremely impressed for the money.

Good luck with your build, our 7 month anniversary was yesterday.

We've got a Howdens kitchen coming. We've already bought it as they had a sale so it's currently being stored by our builder!

We also got Howdens and ours is being stored too. V happy with it (well I say that before it's put in!)

@Willitbeworthit welcome! I am with you on mud garden, and being right at the start. Technically 3 months in but only about 1.5 of those have actually been productive. Extension is only as far as foundations.

Kitchen wise we have gone bespoke with a local firm, utility we’ve gone for Howdens.